Full Metal Jacket

Full Metal Jacket Review

By Christopher Null

The best movie ever made about the American experience in Vietnam happens to have been filmed by an American expatriate living in Britain. Stanley Kubrick's war masterpiece is split into two parts, and it's the first that is laser-engraved into the psyche of any film fan. R. Lee Ermey has never (and will never) be able to shake the role of the uber-demanding sergeant, and Matthew Modine and Vincent D'Onofrio turn in career-making performances as well. Written tautly to the point where it's impossible to look away, this harrowing look at the war -- and what the experience was like for the troops before they ever set foot on foreign soil -- is unmatched in the genre.